Days 12-15

Friday was the big test for my left knee. I did a few warm up stretches and then made my way to the recline leg press. I put on four plates at 45 pounds each put on my earphones and gently pushed the weights up releasing the hold and slowly lowering the weights down. I did twelve reps without feeling any pain, but 225 pounds is relatively  light so I put on another 90 pounds did 10 reps and still no pain. The big test for me, is 405 pounds. That was the last weight before the pain started to flare up in my knee. I released the hold and was able to squeeze out ten repetitions without any pain whatsoever. I completed another set pain free and deduced that my knee problem was  the result of irritation due to inactivity but I'm not a doctor. I finished my leg workout without a hitch so I'm ready to go!

Saturday and Sunday I decided to go easy and did 30 and 45 minutes, respectively on the elliptical trainer. 

Monday I worked my chest triceps and shoulders. My muscles were a little bit sore on some of the flye movements. My I can tell when my muscles need more rest because I can't do my maximum repetitions on the machines, but it has been more than a few days of rest so I'm not pushing myself too hard. I decided to switch over to cycling for my cardiovascular part of my workout, specifically spinning. Spinning is hard work. It will make me break a sweat faster than any other cardio workout I can think of. I have to be in at lease semi-good shape to start a spinning program or I will start to feel sick after 5 or so minutes. I did 20 minutes on the spinner at a reasonable moderate level without any ill effects, but boy did I sweat!